Portable and extensible conveyer



March 17, 1953 w. F. vlcKERs 2,631,715

PORTABLE AND EXTENSIBLE CONVEYER Filed NOV. 18, 1947 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 A TTONE YS.

March 17, 1953 w. F. vIcKERs 2,631,715

PORTABLE AND EXTENSIBLE coNvEYER Filed Nov. 1s, 1947 2 sHEETsusHEET 2 2 mi J n@ IN V EN TOR. wu z. IAM F. w CKE@ s,

Patented Mar. 17, 1953 UNITED STATES TENT OFFICE 2,631,715 PORTABLE AND EXTENSIBLE CONVEYER William F. Vickers, Wichita, Kans. Application November 18, 1947, Serial No. 786,669

2 Claims. (Cl. 198-139) `angularly adjusted or tilted to the desired de gree.

A further object of this invention is to provide in a conveyor of this kind an improved means whereby the tilting screws at one end of the device may be operated as a unit.

A further object of this invention is to provide in a conveyor of this kind a lazy tong ele vating or lowering means whereby the conveyor may be raised or lowered to the desired degree.

With the above and other objects in view, my invention consists in the arrangement, combination and details of construction disclosed in the drawings and specication, and then more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a detail side elevation of a conveyor y'constructed according to an embodiment of this invention,

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken on the line f 2-2 of Figure l,

Figure 3 is a plan view of the device,

Figure 4 is a detail end elevation of the device, and

Figure 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Figure l.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral I6 designates generally a mobile frame or base structure which includes a platform II having extending downwardly therefrom legs I2 which are braced by means of downwardly divergent bracing members I3 extending from the central portion of the platform or base I0.

The legs I2 have mounted on their lower ends caster wheels i4 so that the frame or base structure may be readily shifted from one point to another.

The platform II has disposed thereabove a able supporting means.

'i the inner sides thereof rollers 40 which are mounted on bearings fixed to the insides of the channels 38. The rollers 40 engage in the out- The conveyor frame which comprises the channel members I5 and generally designated as I8,

is supported at one end by means of a pair of telescoping supporting members which include an inner member I9 and an outer member 26. The inner member I9 which is the lower member is secured at its lower end to a curved bracket arm 2I which is pivoted as at 22 to a leg I2 at one end of the base I6.

The tubular member 20 is formed with an elongated slot 23 through which a bolt 24 carried by the lower member I9 extends and the bolt 24 includes a wing nut for tightening the two telescoping members I9` and 26 against endwise movement.

The upper member 26 is pivoted as at 25 to the lower side of a channel member I5. There are two supporting extensible members each comprising telescoping members I3 and 26 at one end of the frame or base I0.

Ihe frame I8 has secured to the opposite end thereof extensible supporting and bracing members generally designated as 26. The bracing members 26 include an upper tubular member 2l which is pivoted as at 23 to a channel or frame member I5. A threaded shaft 29 extends from the lower end of the tubular member 21 and is threaded at its upper portion through a nut 36 'which is fixed to the lower end of the tubular member 2l.

The shaft 29 is journalled at its lower end in a U-shaped bearing 3l which is pivoted as at 32 to the adjacent leg I2 of the frame I6. The U-shaped members 3I are disposed in inverted position with the parallel sides thereof straddling the adjacent legs i2.

The shafts 29 have xed thereto sprockets 33 and 313 which are connected together by means of a chain 35. One of the sprockets and preferably sprocket 34, has fixed thereto a wheel 36 so that the sprockets may readily be rotated in unison so as to thereby rotate the two shafts 29 l together for extending or retracting the bracing members 26 and thereby eiiecting a tilting of the frame structure 31 is formed of inwardly facing parallel channel members 38 which are connected 'together by means of at least one connecting bar 39. The channel members 38 have secured to Wardly facing rchannels I5. There are two pairs of these rollers 40 which are lengthwise spaced apart as shown in Figure 3, so that the channel members 3B will be held co-planar with the channel members I5.

The extensible frame 31 is adapted to be either extended or retracted by means of a cable or flexible member 4| which is wound about a pair of drums 42 and 43 carried by a shaft 44. The shaft 44 is journalled in bearings 45 which are carried by the channel members |5 and one end of the shaft 44 has a'socket 46 secured thereto for engagement by a crank 41.

The ilexible member 4| is wound clockwiseabout one of the drums and counter-clockwise about the other drum so that rotation of the shaft 44 will effect winding of the cable 4| on one of the drums and unwnding of the cable from the other drum. The cable or flexible member 4| is trained about a pulley 48 which `is xed to the forward connecting bar |1 and an intermediate point of the. cable 48 is fixed as at 49 to the connecting or cross bar 38.

The inner conveyor frame I8 has mounted at one end thereof a roller 5D which isv journalled in bearings 5| and a second roller 52 is rotatably carried by the opposite end ofthe inner frame i8, being rotatably carried by bearings 53. An endless conveyor belt 54 is trained about the rollers 5i! and 52 and the upper or operating run. 55 of the belt 54 is extended from the top of roller 5i) over the top of the conveyor frame and is then trained over a roller 56 journalled in bearings 5l which are carried by the outer end of the extensible conveyor frame 3l.

The belt 54 is then extended beneath the conveyor frame and is trained under a pulley 58 which is dependingly supported from bearings 59 carried by the frame 3l.

The belt is then extended as indicated at` vEil forwardly beneath the roller 52 and is then ex- Ytended from roller 52 as indicated at 6| .to` an idler roller 62 which is journaled in bearing 63 carried by the frame |8. A driving roller |54 is journaled in a vertical adjustable Aor swinging frame t5 `disposed beneath the frame I8. The swinging yframe V65 includes a pair of `side or parallel bars E6-which are pivoted as at B1 to the lower sides ofthe channel members l5. The bars 5B are thenvextended forwardly and downwardly, and are connected together by means of a connecting bar 68.

A threaded shaft 5S is pivotally secured -at its upper end as indicated at l to a cross bar 1| which is connected between the channel members I5, and the shaft 69 extends downwardly and outwardly through the connecting bar 58. A pair of adjusting nuts l'I2 and 'HYS are threaded on the shaft 59 engaging on the upper and lower sides respectively of the connecting bar 68 so that the swinging frame B can be angularly adjusted to provide for taking up slack in the conveyor belt 54.

The roller 64 has xed thereto ashaft 14- which has mounted on one end thereof a sprocket 15. The sprocket i5 has trained thereabout a chainl 16 which is` also trained about a driving sprocket 11 operatively connected with a speed reducing means 18 which is xed to the swinging frame B5.

A motor lSA is xed to the swinging frame S5 and is operatively connected with the speed reducing means'l by means of a belt all.

The conveyor frame structure which comprises the twoframes I8 and I9, is. adapted to be elevated or lowered bymeans of a` lazy tong elevating means generally designated as. 8|. Theelevating means 8| includes two lazy tong members 82 which are connected together by means of connecting bars 83 and 84 and the lazy tong members 82 have their upper lengths pivotally connected together by means of an upper connecting bar 85 which is pivotally mounted on a shaft 85 extending between the channel members l5 and rockably mounted in bearings B1.

The lowermost lengths of each lazy tong structure 82 are slidably mounted in upstanding bars or flanges 88 formed with elongated slots 89 through which pins 98 carried by the lowermost lengths of the lazy tongs are adapted to slidably engage. An adjusting threaded shaft 9| is swivelly mounted through a block 92 which is carried bythe connecting bar 83 and is threaded through the connecting bar 84 as shown in Figure 1.

The shaft 9| has secured thereto a hand wheel 93 so that this shaft may be manually adjusted to `provide for the desired elevation of the conveyor structure. The pivotal mounting of the upper ends of the lazy tong members will permit the conveyor frame structure to be tilted to any desired angle.

As shown in Figure 1, the `lazy tong structure B2 includes connecting bars 94 which are connected between a pair of the lengths forming the lazy tong so that these lengths will be held in spaced, parallel relation. The belt 54 is extended upwardly from beneath the driving roller 64 and passed over a second idler roller 95 which is journaled in bearings lSlt fixed to the channel members I5 outwardly from the bearings 53.

The conveyor belt 54 is then extended outwardly beneath and about the end roller 58.

In the use and operation of this device, the

vmotor 1.9 is connected to a source of electric cur- 44 so that the conveyor may be of the desired length. With a conveyor as hereinbefore described, thel material may be transferred quickly and from one point either above or below the point of discharge, and due to the mobile frame on which the conveyor is mounted, this conveyor can readily be shifted to any selected point.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a conveyor, a base, a pair of longitudinally conveyor belt trained over said end rollers, said aligned frame members slidably connected to provideV a conveyor frame, conveyor belt rollers on the opposite ends of said frame, an endless belt having an upper flight extending along the top of said fram-e and a lower flight extending alongsaid frame beneath Ysaid upper flight, idler roller means on said frame over which the lower Hight is trained at points between said end rollers, ar belt adjusting frame pivoted on said conveyor frame and depending therefrom at a declining angle, a driveroller on saidraduiusting frame under which a portion of the lower flight of the belt is trained from saidridler roller means, motor means on the adjusting frame operatively connected to said drive roller. to drive the conveyor belt, extensiblefsmeans extending between and connected to said conveyor frame and said adjusting frame, said extensible means being arranged to be extended to take up slack in the conveyor belt'iwhen the conveyor frame members are contracted and to be contracted to provide slack in the conveyor belt as the conveyor frame members are extended, means mounting said conveyor frame on said base, and means for extending and contracting said frame members relative to each other.

2. In an adjustable conveyor, a conveyor belt frame composed of longitudinally extensible frame members, a base, and means mounting said belt frame on said base comprising a first Vertical member rising from said base and connected at its upper end to one end of one of said conveyor frame members, and a second vertical member rising from said base and connected at its upper end to an end of the other conveyor frame member, said first and second vertical members being pivoted at their upper ends to the frame members and individually extensible and contractible to vary the height of said conveyor l frame above said base and the inclination of said conveyor frame with respect to said base, and lazy 6 tongs on said base beneath one of said conveyor members and engaged therewith for tilting said conveyor frame upwardly at an acute angle to said base on the axis of the pivotal connection of one of said vertical members with one of said frame members.

WILLIAM F. VICKERS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 782,050 Plunket Feb. 7, 1905 880,826 Reistad Mar. 3, 1908 1,126,748 Gledhill Feb. 2, 1915 1,453,393 Jessen May l, 1923 1,520,332 Connolly Dec. 231924 2,166,447 Ruppenthal July 18, 1939 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 411,990 Germany Apr. 7, 1925 688,128 Germany Feb. 13 ,1940 

